“The Hunger Games” trailer hits web three days before Super Bowl premiere

Talk about a nice surprise! Less than a day after it was announced that a new “Hunger Games” trailer would premiere during the Super Bowl Pre-Game show, Lionsgate has released the teaser online via Yahoo.

The minute-long trailer features some new footage, including plenty between Gale and Katniss. It also includes a bit of Katniss’s interview with Caesar Flickerman before the Games where she tells him she would win the event for her sister, as well as some — sadly minimal — footage from the Hunger Games themselves. The teaser confirms what has been suspected for a while: the gifting of the Mockingjay pin is different than what’s in the book. Originally it was supposed to be the District 12 mayor’s daughter, Madge, who gives Katniss the pin after she volunteers to be a tribute in the Hunger Games. In this trailer, it is revealed that Katniss actually gives the pin to her sister Prim in the movie, but likely gets it back once the Games are about to begin.

Our favorite new scene in the trailer comes from the same moment as yesterday’s still. Lenny Kravitz’s Cinna pins the Mockingjay pin to Katniss’s shirt, under her jacket, and whispers, “Shh.” And in that moment, though neither of them knew it at the time, the rebellion against the Capitol began.

In other “The Hunger Games” news, the IMAX Corporation has announced that the flick will be released in IMAX for a limited one week engagement. “The Hunger Games” was not shot with IMAX cameras, but is being digitally remastered to play in the IMAX format. Needless to say, those tickets will probably sell out extremely quickly, so we’ll let you know more information about when they go on sale when we get it.

Lastly, MTV News posted an adorable clip from their interview with Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson where the two “Hunger Games” leads try to remember the first time they met. Lawrence went on to talk about their “tons of chemistry” and the way that Hutcherson embodies his character.

“He was Peeta,” she said of her costar.” “I had heard the director, I had heard Gary [Ross] say, ‘He is the only one who is actually Peeta,’ and then [Josh] came in, and he was. He’s charming and nice and sweet, like a dog licking your face.”

“The Hunger Games” tells the story of Katniss Everdeen, a 16-year-old girl from the poor District 12 section of the futuristic country Panem who volunteers herself into the annual Hunger Games to take the place of her sister. In the Hunger Games, she must fight to the death against 23 of her peers on national television to win fame and fortune to her District. But Katniss only thinks about her survival and returning to her family, and that’s what gives her the edge. “The Hunger Games” hits theaters on March 23, 2012.

What do you hope is included in “The Hunger Games” trailer? Tell us in the comments section below or on Facebook and Twitter.